Washington State has sold nearly twice as many tickets to bowl game as Colorado State

Dec. 13, 2013

The jerseys and helmets that will be worn in the New Mexico Bowl by CSU and Washington State in the Dec. 21 game in Albuquerque are shown at a news conference Wednesday promoting the game. / Russell Contreras/Associated Press

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Tickets

Fans can purchase tickets to the Dec. 21 New Mexico Bowl online at CSURams.com, over the phone at (970) 491-RAMS (7267) and (800) 491-RAMS, or in person at the McGraw Center ticket office west of Moby Arena during normal business hours Monday through Friday. Tickets are $40, with student tickets available for $10. Fans also can make donations at CSURams.com in $5 increments to offset the cost of discounted tickets for students and military personnel in the Albuquerque area.

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The increased travel distance isn’t deterring Washington State fans from planning trips to cheer their team on when it faces CSU in the Dec. 21 New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque.

Washington State had sold 4,148 tickets to the game as of Thursday afternoon, school spokesman William Stevens said. Colorado State University had sold 2,100 tickets by the close of business Thursday, said Jason Layton, the school’s senior associate athletic director for sales and marketing.

The Cougars (6-6, 4-5 Pacific-12 Conference) and Rams (7-6, 5-3) will meet in the first bowl game of the year at noon Dec. 21 at New Mexico’s University Stadium.

CSU is responsible for $125,000 in ticket sales, the cost of 3,125 full-price tickets ($40), based on the $526,950 budget given to the school by the Mountain West Conference to cover its bowl travel and expenses. All bowl revenues and expenses go through the conference office, with all excess revenue going into a pool after the bowls are over that will be split equally among the MW’s 12 member schools for football.

Washington State is responsible for $150,000 in ticket sales, the cost of 3,750 full-price tickets, based on its bowl travel and expense budget of $675,000 from the Pacific-12 Conference, Washington State deputy athletic director Mike Marlow told Cougfan.com. The school can pick up an additional $75,000 from the conference if ticket sales reach a certain threshold, Cougfan.com reported.

CSU brought an estimated 6,500 fans to the New Mexico Bowl when it last played in the game in 2008. CSU sold 2,472 tickets to fans and distributed 5,060 that year, said Steve Cottingham, the chief financial officer for the athletic department.

The bowl game allocates 10,000 tickets to the MW and its participating school for the bowl game each year and 5,000 to the Pac-12 and its participating school, based on the contracts the bowl has with the two conferences, a New Mexico bowl ticket-office manager said.

The additional tickets distributed in 2008 included 1,400 for active veterans and military personnel in the Albuquerque area that were paid for by CSU donors and 1,188 complimentary tickets for student-athletes’ families (650), the marching band (450) and athletic department staff (88), said Cottingham, who wasn’t at CSU at that time.

Donations are being sought to cover the cost of the discounted student tickets and those that again will be given to active military and veterans in the Albuquerque area from CSU’s initial allotment of 5,000.

Albuquerque is about a 7˝-hour drive from Fort Collins along Interstate 25, and there are 10 daily flights from Denver to Albuquerque on three different airlines. The drive time from Pullman, Wash., where Washington State’s campus is located, to Albuquerque is 19˝ hours. There are no nonstop flights from Spokane, Wash., the nearest major airport, to Albuquerque, although there are relatively cheap flights through Salt Lake City or Phoenix that filled up quickly as soon as Washington State fans learned the Cougars would be in the New Mexico Bowl.